George: The Poor Little Rich Boy Who Built the Yankee Empire - Hardcover

by Peter Golenbock (Author)

The biography of one of the most controversial figures in sports: New York Yankees owner George Steinbrenner

For 34 years, he berated his players and tormented Yankees managers and employees. He played fast and loose with the rules, and twice could have gone to jail. He was banned from baseball for life--but was allowed back in the game. Yet George Steinbrenner also built the New York Yankees from a mediocre team into the greatest sports franchise in America. The Yankees won ten pennants and six World Series during his tenure. Now acclaimed sportswriter and New York Times bestselling author Peter Golenbock tells the fascinating story of ""The Boss,"" from his Midwestern childhood through his decades-long ownership of the Yankees-the longest in the team's history.

• Draws on more than a hundred interviews with those who have known George Steinbrenner throughout his life to tell the complete story of ""The Boss"" and his long tenure as owner of the New York Yankees
• Gets inside Steinbrenner's countless manager hirings and firings, from Billy Martin to Joe Torre; the legendary feuds and hard feelings involving famous figures such as Yogi Berra and Dave Winfield; and the ever-spiraling players' salaries
• Covers the astute business deals that transformed the Yankees from a $10 million franchise into a powerhouse worth over $1 billion today
• Written by Peter Golenbock, one of the nation's best-known sports authors and the author of five New York Times bestsellers, including Number 1 with Billy Martin and The Bronx Zoo with Sparky Lyle

Packed with drama, insight, and fascinating front-office details, George is essential reading for baseball fans and anyone who loves a terrific story well told.

Front Jacket

From the time he bought the New York Yankees in 1973 until he handed control of the team to his sons in 2007, George Steinbrenner was the object of more media scorn than any other team owner in sports history-and most of the time he deserved it. Yet, amid the swirl of scandals, feuds, firings, banishments, bad trades, and even a felony conviction, he revived baseball's most storied franchise, won ten pennants and six World Series, and transformed a failing ten-million-dollar team into a billion-dollar sports and media empire. It's easy to say that there's no such thing as bad publicity; it's quite another to prove it over and over again for more than three decades. How did he do it?

In "George," "New York Times" bestselling author Peter Golenbock, who has been writing about the Yankees since before Steinbrenner's first day on the job, tells the stranger-than-fiction story of baseball's biggest bully, worst boss, and most successful owner ever.

Drawing on more than a hundred interviews with those who have known Steinbrenner throughout his life, Golenbock tells the epic story of the "Boss," from his Midwestern childhood and family shipping business background through his thirty-four-year ownership of the Yankees-the longest in the team's history. He reveals the inside stories behind George's stormy relationship with manager Billy Martin, whom he hired five times and fired four, and his decade-long war with Yankee star Dave Winfield, which culminated in Steinbrenner's second banishment from the game. He also reveals how general manager Gene "Stick" Michael saved the Yankees' future by preventing the Boss from trading Mariano Rivera and Bernie Williams early in their careers.

If you've ever wondered why Sparky Lyle and Graig Nettles were traded away when both were in top form, what it took to provoke Yogi Berra into declaring that he'd never set foot in Yankee Stadium again, or why the man who fired every manager he ever hired couldn't fire Joe Torre and had to insult him into quitting, you'll find the full stories behind these bizarre decisions and every other off-the-wall episode in Steinbrenner's controversial tenure as Yankee owner.

Complete with accounts of Steinbrenner's involvement in the creation of the Yes Network and the sweetheart deal between the Yankees and New York mayor Rudy Giuliani that enabled the construction of the House that Steinbrenner Built-the new Yankee Stadium-George is packed with drama, insight, and plenty of inside-baseball and front-office details. It should be required reading for every baseball lover and Yankee fan, and for anyone who appreciates an exciting and compelling story well told.

Back Jacket

Who but the master of the baseball biography, Golenbock, could finally get the fix on Steinbrenner, the most curious, fearsome, pathetic, seminal figure in the pastime's modern history. You'll hate and love George all over again in this fast-moving pageant of tales you never heard and old ones told truthfully.
--Robert Lipsyte, author, "Heroes of Baseball"

"Loathe him or hate him, he's the most famous owner in the history of professional baseball, the one and only Boss. Now, finally, from a writer who knows the Yankees inside-out, is a complete, rip-roaring portrait of the man behind the turtlenecks, tantrums, sky-scraping payroll and championship rings."
--Jonathan Mahler, author, "The Bronx is Burning"

"No one is better equipped to delve into George Steinbrenner's improbable, outsized life than Peter Golenbock, the undisputed king of baseball books. His latest is compulsively readable and chock-full of revealing anecdotes that are sure to make headlines. A fascinating account of a complex man who is both infuriating bully and beloved icon."
--Jane Heller, author of "Confessions of a She-Fan: The Course of True Love with the New York Yankees"

Author Biography

Peter Golenbock is one of the nation's best-known sports authors. He has written some of sports' most important books, including five "New York Times" bestsellers: "The Bronx Zoo with Sparky Lyle," "Number 1 with Billy Martin," "Balls with Graig Nettles," "Idiot with Johnny Damon," and "Personal Fouls." He is also the author of the bestselling book on NASCAR, "American Zoom," and he has written books about the Mets, and most recently "7: The Mickey Mantle Novel." His collaboration with Tony Curtis, American Prince, reached number seven on the "New York Times" bestseller list. He lives in St. Petersburg, Florida.